Monday, June 23, 2014

You look beautiful as always. I would like to tell you about day 6 now if that's ok with you. It is? Lovely. Let's get started.

Good Morning Surfer's Paradise! Today started with a lovely sunrise on the Gold Coast.

Sunrise is such a peaceful time of day. I rather like it.

We didn't get many pictures from today. We walked along the beach which goes on for MILES. We drove around this cute little town and stopped so the kids could play at the park.

We weaved ourselves in and out of the water ways, of which there are many.

Fun fact: the birds here are LOUD.

This guy in particular is the LOUDEST. Very pretty song. but again, very very loud.

After some fun in the sun we piled back into the car for our journey to Brisbane. Before we left though we stopped for a quick bite to eat which made me SO SICK. And not a working bathroom in sight. It was awesome. I'll save you the details but let's just say 6th try is the charm. I was sick the whole drive here.

Moving on.....

The Wheel of Brisbane. Not as big as the eye of London but it is one of the largest in the SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. That makes it sound like a big deal but if you consider what IS in the southern hemisphere it's less impressive.

Fun little ride it goes around 4 times explaining all the landmarks within eye sight. So pretty at night.
Not very crowded. Half price from 5-6pm. That's the sweet spot.

This walkway goes for MILES. It's a metal structure that they've planted climbing plants next to. It's lit up at night and so frigging pretty.

Just a pic from up top.
That's on the north side.
(the wheel is technically on Southbank)

View of Southbank

Different angle.

Southbank

These walkways. They are so COOL!!!!

Why can't all downtown areas be this nice, you know?
I can't imagine it was this hard to implement.

There are all these grassy areas everywhere. I took more pictures but since it was dark you can't really get the full effect so I'll post daytime pics on tomorrow's blog.

Hey guy.

(note the bare feet: those flip flops give him blisters. he has yet to throw them out because they were expensive. I said "they've been giving you blisters for 3 years.... you've got your money's worth")

Because why WOULN'T you light up the kids playground at night????

OMG finally a decent meal. Pork chop with horseradish mash, sauerkraut and brussel sprouts.
And a glass of shiraz.
Of course.

The kids had steak and SKINNY FRIES!!! HURRAY!!!
SOMETHING THEY RECOGNIZE!!!

Just like London, Australia has those big fat fries. "chips" as they like to refer to them as.

Aiden does not like chips.

I love them.

Aiden finished his food but wanted more fries.

Greg had a talk with his tummy about this. He didn't believe that the tummy had more room for fries.

The tummy told him that there was a chocolate bar and marshmallows still digesting.

Go figure.

Then we hopped in a cab and headed back to the hotel where a long over due shower awaited me.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

Oh dear reader... I'm so happy you're still here with me. It makes me feel better knowing that we are so close even though we are so far, far away.

I"m sure you're wondering what exciting and wonderful things we did today aren't you? Well I'm sorry to disappoint you. I truly, truly am. Day 5 was fairly boring. I had a goal in mind for today. I wanted to get to Brisbane. It is a big city with many fantastic things to see. We didn't make it to Brisbane. But we got close.

We started our morning off in Port Macquarie. It is a wonderful little seaside town.

We walked along the water and found TONS
of starfish!!

We also saw sea snails making their way back to the water.

Saw some good-looking dude and asked if I could
take his photo.

He obliged.

She wanted us to take her picture with captain blackbeard and the mermaid. But when we took the picture she looked less than pleased.

Shocking.

I don't know about you guys, but when I pictured Australia I always imagined outback. Dry, bushy, crocodiles. Also most of my imagery comes from "crocodile dundee". Interestingly enough..... a lot of Australia is RAINFOREST. Friggin' rainforest man. So tropical. So beachy. and all in the same place!!!

There are a lot of birds here. Wild birds. Birds you've never even seen in your life. They are EVERYWHERE. It sounds like a god damn zoo here. Wild parakeets! It's banana pants.

Also, McDonalds is HUGE here. HUGE. And they love it here! LOVE!
They have another fast food place called "hungry jacks" it looks like burger king.

I went out to breakfast this morning and I got pancakes with bacon and eggs. They brought me my plate with two pancakes, two over medium eggs and bacon on top of the pancakes. It was good . REALLY good. Coincidentally that's how my friend Melissa eats it. She's not Australian.

Driving, driving and more driving.

SUGAR CANE!!! We passed MASSIVE sugar cane fields.

See? A very boring day. We made it as far as the gold coast.

Surfers Paradise Beach.

BUT, we got to our hotel and we were on the 24th floor. The top floor. AMAZING VIEWS. I'll share with you on tomorrows boring blog.

Saturday, June 21, 2014

This was our view from this morning. Do you see the Palm trees? No. You don't. Know why? Because my camera decided to focus on the rain drops on the window rather than the what's behind that. No matter. You get the point. It was a beautiful and very chilly day. I got into a HUGE fight with Sarah-Eve. Why? Because I told her today would be cold and that she should put pants on. She didn't want to. I made her. Then she whined and pouted and yelled at me under her breath. I finally said "WHERE WHATEVER THE HELL YOU WANT". So she put on shorts and a chiffon shirt. WHAT. THE. HELL. More and more often I find myself asking Greg "what do I do? How do I handle her? What do I do if I want to strangle her?" Haley, if you're reading this... then know it was never YOU. It is just that age and I have no patience for it.

*ahem* Moving on.

This is us waiting at the car rental for a new car. The other car was too small for people with 6 weeks worth of luggage.

In all honesty it's not THAT much luggage.

That and that flat tire.

Brand new car. Tons of room but where do they choose to sit?

RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER.

Lord help me.

Just kidding.. there is no Lord.

moving on.....

DID YOU THINK I WAS JOKING???

I took this picture with my phone, inside the car. It is poor quality. I am aware. Shut up. It was a really beautiful drive. Lets look at more poor quality photos... shall we?

So we were driving. There was a truck in front of us. Everything was fine. Just driving along, doing our thang. Then all of a sudden the truck in front of us slows, then stops. WTS?

Low and behold.... the road just STOPPED. In front of the road was a body of water. How do you we cross it? You're probably saying "ferry". And normally you would be right. But in this instance... it was more of a moveable bridge. No lie.

IT WAS A BRIDGE THAT WENT BACK AND FORTH. BACK AND FORTH. BACK AND FORTH. IT WAS ON A CABLE FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!!!

We passed the water with no trouble.

JEALOUS.

PIT STOP.

Let's play.

This was an estuary where they have licensed fishing. Very interesting birds here too.

Ok. Everyone back in the car. Let's keep driving. We head up to Port Macquarie.

oh hey porpoise. What's going on?

The ocean... it calls to him.

This is fun. But what's over there? Oh it's a light house. let's go check it out!!!

Holy crap it's amazing. Oh whats that you say? There's stuff on the other side? Ok let's check it out.

Oh my gosh. Seriously. It's THAT amazing. Granted I've lived next to the beach almost my entire life.... seeing it on the other side of the world, in a different country, surrounded by different terrain.... It never ceases to amaze me.

Basically today was a day of getting miles behind us. We have about 1400 miles to go but slowly we're getting there.

Things discovered today:

Australians are AWESOME. It's official. They are so freaking nice. Much like Canadians, only with less "sorry" and more "no worries"

I saw a wallaby on the side of the road and a herd of kangaroo.

We were driving... rounded a corner and BAM! camels. Friggin' camels in australia! Whaaaaaaa?

Alright sweet, dear, lovely, beautiful reader. It is late. 7pm. My wine is nearly finished and I must be going.